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Free Brandon Rush

With a last second play setup you need a couple good screeners and some shooters. The play drawn would have worked well if it wasn't thrown in to Foster, rather someone who looked for a quick pass to Dunleavy, and if not available could turn and shoot. For the sake of it lets just say it was broken, Its hard to believe the play was designed for a one option pass to Dunleavy.

Brandon Rush needs to be in the game more, especially with Daniels out. Its obvious his minutes would lessen with the return of Dunleavy, but how much better would it have been to see Rush guarding Kobe to allow Granger to be involved in the final play? We know he's a rookie and has his shortcomings, but the talents he does possess (defense and shooting range) need to be utilized more efficiently. O'Brien should consider dropping the bench banishments to 'teach lessons' and keep those players available for whatever advantage they may bring.

Re: Free Brandon Rush

Don't laugh. Clearly, Rush has more potential than Graham (and probably more talent right now as well) but he's just not putting it together on the floor the way you'd want him too. I'd much rather see Rush than Graham right now, just because I think Rush has more room to improve, but he's not wrong. Graham is outplaying Rush in the minutes he gets.

Re: Free Brandon Rush

You can go through the whole earning minutes thing if you wish, I believe its irrelevant here. For one, the Pacers lack talent, he has it. Sure, he's not polished yet, but I compare him to late inning defensive replacement in a baseball game. He doesn't have to be a great player, just someone who currently possesses a useful talent. Graham would not have been a good option to guard Kobe, Rush would have. If you want to make him ride the bench and earn his minutes that's fine, but he's not useless and should not be treated as such.

Re: Free Brandon Rush

With Kobe the only thing you can do is try to bother him with length. You can't use someone who is overly aggressive or uses strength to defend, all you will get is a foul called. Rather, you look to someone who has quickness and can stay close and contest his shot as much as possible. There are 2 guys on the Pacers who can do this, both were on the bench. Only one had to be.

Create an ignore list. I know it may seem unneighborly. But you're here to talk about the Pacers, not argue with someone who's just looking for an argument. Most of the regular users on here make use (at least occasionally) of the "Ignore" feature. Just go to "Settings" -> "Edit Ignore List" and add the names.

Re: Free Brandon Rush

With Kobe the only thing you can do is try to bother him with length. You can't use someone who is overly aggressive or uses strength to defend, all you will get is a foul called. Rather, you look to someone who has quickness and can stay close and contest his shot as much as possible. There are 2 guys on the Pacers who can do this, both were on the bench. Only one had to be.

This is fair. I didn't think having Danny on Kobe was a bad idea - he just make a bad decision to reach in when he should have just contained and challenged. But it's still MMQBing to say that Rush would have fared any better - I'm torn on that, but I definitely see where you're coming from. Jack was getting shot over all night. Might as well give the kid a chance at some point.

Re: Free Brandon Rush

You are way off track here. Your argument is tangential to the one I am trying to convey. I am not talking about Rush getting 30 minutes a game, that is another discussion. I am talking about giving your team its best chance to win the game. You know the ball is going to Kobe, you want to put your best defender on him. In no way, shape or form does letting Rush enter the game for this possession give him any sense on entitlement. You are jumping out to a unprovable assumption about how Rush would process this situation in his mind. The fact of the matter is the coach has a responsibility, to use the players he is given in the best manner conducive to winning the basketball game. Rush should have been on Kobe. I won't address the "baiting the rookie," again its just another assumption that has no basis.

Re: Free Brandon Rush

You are way off track here. Your argument is tangential to the one I am trying to convey. I am not talking about Rush getting 30 minutes a game, that is another discussion. I am talking about giving your team its best chance to win the game. You know the ball is going to Kobe, you want to put your best defender on him. In no way, shape or form does letting Rush enter the game for this possession give him any sense on entitlement. You are jumping out to a unprovable assumption about how Rush would process this situation in his mind. The fact of the matter is the coach has a responsibility, to use the players he is given in the best manner conducive to winning the basketball game. Rush should have been on Kobe. I won't address the "baiting the rookie," again its just another assumption that has no basis.

Here are two facts about the NBA:

- Superstar calls exist.
- Rookie calls exist.

So, the solution is to put a rookie on a superstar? That's called suicide.

Re: Free Brandon Rush

That's an incredibly weak argument for this particular situation. While it is true that rookies are not given the benefit of the doubt for quite some time, refs are and always will be much more inclined to hesitate on calling a foul for the last play of the game. You are not asking Rush to get the steal, or the block, where aggression is needed and the chance for a foul increases drastically. What you are looking for is someone with length to contest the inevitable jumper you know is coming.

Re: Free Brandon Rush

Being the last play of the game is more or less semantical at this point, it was most likely the Laker's last possession and time was running off the clock. A foul call would have required contact, something that wasn't needed. The quick whistle on Granger was because of contact, all you want is someone who can stick with Kobe and the length to best contest the shot. If this only decreases his chance of making that shot 1% then it is the correct choice. If it was made or missed a time out was going to be called, and Rush could have been taken out.

Re: Free Brandon Rush

I'm not saying that Rush has a sense of entitlement or doesn't have talent. If you give him something he doesn't deserve... that leads to entitlement and hurts your team by saying, sorry Stephen, you're a better player now and we appreciate your hard work, but we're playing the rookie who hasn't figured things out in practice or games, but we're sure he'll do it against Kobe.

Re: Free Brandon Rush

I'm not saying that Rush has a sense of entitlement or doesn't have talent. If you give him something he doesn't deserve... that leads to entitlement and hurts your team by saying, sorry Stephen, you're a better player now and we appreciate your hard work, but we're playing the rookie who hasn't figured things out in practice or games, but we're sure he'll do it against Kobe.

I understand your sentiment, but I definitely disagree. I don't believe being asked to use your strength of defending to help your team win leads to a sense of entitlement. If anything it would give him confidence, knowing that he can help the team win. I won't pretend to know what the players are thinking, but I sincerely doubt Graham would be sitting there saying I should be out there guarding Kobe, I've played way better than Rush has. I think he would understand that Rush has defensive skills and O'Brien is using his best judgment for the team. And a well run team will not question the coach's decisions.
I think your argument is best fit for whether or not Rush should be playing 30 minutes a game because he has a higher ceiling, or in other words having more potential and favor as a high 1st round draft pick and as such playing over Graham. However, I still don't believe this would lead to entitlement, but it most definitely could.

Re: Free Brandon Rush

Rush wasn't even that good in college, 13/5/2 on 43% shooting. I'm not sure why anyone thought such mediocre college production would translate to anything worth a damn in the
NBA. He was a bottom-third of the first round talent, just like the mock drafts had him.